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Should We Celebrate Qaddafi's Death?

By now, most of us have heard the news that Qaddafi is dead. US news outlets heralded this final chapter in the toppling of a dictatorship that strangled Libya for decades. And, most anchors welcomed commentators both from our own country and from that region of the Middle East.

Many on TV or radio spoke of the new dawn in Libya for freedom, but some openly celebrated Qaddafi's death. The tone of the celebratory comments seemed vindictive and gleeful. The situation now begs the questions: "Does someone's death ever deserve a celebration?"

The question impacts us as parents of young, impressionable children. When adults express joy mixed with revenge on TV, children hear the concreteness of the message. Youngsters do not grasp the abstract notion that Qaddafi's death equates to cessation of a terrorist regime. Instead, they hear adults blending pleasure with violence.

Behaviorally, children can learn to associate happiness with the use of violence to seek revenge or to right a wrong. The ideas that form can combine with other forms of learning, such as modeling violent cartoons, to produce beliefs that normalize and accept violence as justified and pleasurable. Young children learn these concrete associations, and run the risk of applying them in the real world.

The relief experienced by so many is understandable. As parents, we might consider simply overlooking the celebratory nature of some comments. But, should we allow our children to risk learning the dangerous association of joy over death? Instead, we better serve our children by explaining the happiness of ending any dictator's atrocious actions, adding that, in civilized societies, we feel sad about death.

A rule of thumb is "violence begets violence." Behavioral modeling supports this maxim. As parents, we can teach "might for right" without glorifying death. Is there ever a time to celebrate death? Should such revelry obscure the deaths of freedom fighters and the gruesomeness of war? The answer should be NO! Celebrate freedom, but regret the deaths (even Qaddafi's) that led to it.

After all Gaddafi is God's creation,he has freedom to make his life worth living but unfortunately it was contrary to the society.And now his life already ended all we can do is pray, no one of us should convict him. May his soul rest in peace.

After all Gaddafi is God's creation,he has freedom to make his life worth living but unfortunately it was contrary to the society.And now his life already ended all we can do is pray, no one of us should convict him. May his soul rest in peace.

I say we should totally teach them to rejoice in the deserved punishment of bad people. Honestly, I can hardly understand why anybody would have a problem with that. I'm more afraid that teaching children to have compassion for bad guys will make the weak, indecisive and vulnerable to manipulation by bad people. The messages of fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel may be a lil extreme but one has to know the extremes first before a balance can be made.

The bigger danger is the unconstrained Drone Warfare doctrine that (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) Barack Obama has unleashed. Many countries, many deaths of innocents. All casually dismissed or unaccounted for.

What should be the political anti-War counterweight to Empire aggression has gone totally flaccid in its apologetic adoration of "The One". Who BTW, also happens to be an Idiot-Savant Mediocrity who confuses Military Power with National Greatness.

Oh well... The Culture of Death is now normative across the sclerotic American body politic.

I agree with this, especially the last statement. The same could be said about Osama's death as well; it was a relief to the world yet saddening, especially seeing so many people celebrating a man's death like that.

A wonderful article , one for discussion on many levels .
The lessons with in the lesson

Is the joy equal to the first breath before the pain is felt

Or

Is it the continuum of what was , a control , a power , a pain , now being passed on to many more . Yet cloaked in joy .

I suppose either way it is sad , one human has lost his life , a society has lived and felt great pain . All who have witnessed are feeling feelings that some how are connected , no matter how expressed .

Possibly it is the human connection we have whether we want it or not . To say what we do today , will effect those around us . Unless we truly do believe we are in a world of just one . When we are a world of many , fragile , vulnerable , Innocent human beings . All who started out one in the same .

It is the steps we take , and how we may choose to breath in life that will make the difference if to ever find the freedom we seek .

Dismissal of life will continue this joy of anothers death
A joy that is possilby only the first breath , let us hope that this is all this is .